Back to the future: A daily newspaper returns to New Orleans

I thought this might have been an April Fool's joke, but then I checked the date and source and it appears that Advance has decided being a daily newspaper company in New Orleans is not such a bad idea after all.

Here's the Poynter take on the AP phone records seizure

The news that the Department of Justice seized phone records from the Associated Press is disturbing to the extreme. Here is what Poynter says about it today.

Scott Pelley on today's Journalism

This link will take you to a series of recent quotes about the state of journalism by CBS anchorman Scott Pelley. (I think the obvious spelling mistakes may be the fault of the website and not Pelley, but who knows?

Sloppy journalism at the Miami Herald

What I enjoyed about this article was the Miami Herald editor's excuse for why the mistake happened. Now the "new" journalism is blaming its mistakes on the realities of the  "new" journalism.

When something is as easily checked as a person's criminal record simply by going online, is there really any excuse?

And then there is this from Poynter on the Internet sensation of Cleveland hero/woman rescuer Charles Ramsey.

The newspaper bleeding continues

I know a former book page editor who won't be surprised at this news.

More newspaper circulation gobbly dee gook

Not sure what this article is even saying, but I put it up here in case you can interpret it.

A couple items for your breakfast reading

An interesting Pew Research study on the current state of the news media is pretty good reading.

And a few pictures to drive the sadness home.

A young former journalist skillfully sums up the biz

Well, I was waiting for a nod from the writer before posting this, but others are already sending me links to this and Inky has already commented with the link so if you want a concise wrap up of what is happening to journalism today read this young woman's blog post. The comments are good too.

Just in case you were wondering if cutbacks had an effect on journalism quality

According to this survey, the cutbacks are not helping with the quality of journalism.

A good, investigative piece on Advance's New Orleans newspaper strategy

This Columbia Journalism Review article on the head scratching Advance strategy in New Orleans is long, but really good read for anyone interested in the whirlpool that is today's newspaper business.

As the person who sent this to me said, brew up a good pot of coffee, curl up on the sofa and enjoy!

Yikes, it's getting ugly at JRC

Feeling badly today for my friends who work at JRC properties.

More bad news for my friends at the Oakland Press

Looks like more bad news is coming for the Journal-Register Co. employees.

Flint police exec holds two jobs - Free Press

I knew Mr. Jones when he worked at the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. The Detroit Free Press broke this story about his dual jobs.

Newspaper expert responds to Advance, 60 Minutes segment

Kevin Slimp, a newspaper "guru" had this to say recently about the 60 Minutes segment on the Times-Picayune cutting publishing days. He has talked about Newhouse before like this article from August.

He was critical of 60 Minutes, but his bigger beef may be with the Advance folks who so poorly represented newspapers on the program.

And this about the supposed surge in online circulation.

More reporters, more print, what an idea!

Here's a story about a newspaper that is bucking the trend. (This is a link to a California paper, although the Flint Journal ran the same story. I just choose not to try and negotiate the MLive.com website to find it.

60 Minutes looks at Advance newspaper decisions

In case you missed 60 Minutes segment on Advance's decision to neuter its newspaper presence in New Orleans.

I'm OK, you're OK

With posting being quiet for the last couple months a loyal reader sent an inquiry as to whether all was well in the Smith household.

We have had some family challenges that have kept us busy, but we are fine and preparing for our trip south to Tucson starting next Wednesday. You can follow our adventures there at grandmasrecess.blogspot.com starting Thursday.

I do have some pending Advance related posts for Free From Editors and I promise to put them up shortly. One has been pending since the election and deals with some apparent confusion over the endorsements for each of the MLive properties. A loyal reader sent me that tip and I will get to it shortly.

Thanks for your concern.

Falling for Internet rumors

In follow up to a comment on my previous post it amazes me that in these times of fake storm photos and news items that you can still catch large news organizations re-reporting these Internet troll items without making a simple phone call or other verification before trotting out the news.

Anatomy of a plagiarist

A nice piece from CBS on plagiarism.

So much for the death of newspapers

I guess there may be more of a demand for a daily newspaper in New Orleans than people may have thought.

On vacation: If that's possible for a retiree

I'm headed out with my son Tim for a great West Virginia - Virginia adventure on the Appalachian Trail and some back packing. So Free From Editors will be unmanned until next weekend (Oct. 12).

Go hug a tree, we will be.

A couple items worth reading

Thanks to a loyal FFE reader for the links, I post for your reading the following two links:

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/09/baseball_and_news_online_life.html

By the way, I was one of those kids who snuck a transistor radio into school during the World Series, especially when my favorite team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were there. I miss the daytime World Series games.

And this from the newspaper war that is about to commence in Louisiana:


http://theadvocate.com/home/4012182-125/advocate-picayune-wage-rare-fight

Advance joins Louisiana newspaper battle

When a Baton Rouge paper stepped into the newspaper void in New Orleans I guess the Newhouse family decided that they would join the battle and open a bureau in Baton Rouge.

What's that old saying about throwing good money after bad?